Mumbai: 22 Metro trains await inauguration

The soontobeinaugurated Metro lines 2A and 7 will enable commuters to travel from Andheri West to Dahisar along Link Road in 40 minutes and from Gundavli to Dahisar East in 35 minutes respectivelyA day after the formal flagoff by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 19 starting at 4 pm 244 services involving twentytwo trains will be operated per day on the complete stretch of Andheri West DN Nagar to Dahisar West and from theremdashvia the Western Express Highwaymdashto Dahisar East From there the trains will head to Gundavli in Andheri East along the highwayA common mobility card National Common Mobility Card or NCMC will also be launched the same day to be used on these two lines as well as on Line 1About 44 trains are expected to arrive for both lines of which about 28 are already here 22 of them to be put into service The first train from Andheri West DN Nagar station will be at 6 am and the last one at 924 pm The first train from Gundavli will be at 555 am and the last one around 920 pmAlso Read Mumbai Metroscarred roads to be restored nowAndheri stationThe Andheri West station and Gundavli are integrated with Line 1 The former station is a threelevel singlepier cantilever station linked to existing Blue Line 1 VersovaGhatkopar connected with Andheri DN Nagar station Line 1 at two levels for seamless passenger movement between the two Metro LinesThis additional level has been provided due to the fact that there is already a running Metro Line ie Metro Line 1 just after the station location In order to cross Metro Line 1 safely the rail level of Metro Line 2A had to be increased by 22 metres above the road level increasing height of the platform level 8 metres higher than the usual platform height Therefore to utilise the increased height an additional level has been introducedldquoAndheri station itself will serve approximately 30000 passengers They will be using it in peak times daily as this station is connected with Line 1 It will also become a conjunction point for passengers travelling from Andheri West to either the north or east direction The travel time for passengers boarding from Dahisar to Goregaon section to Ghatkopar will be reduced significantlyrdquo said Metropolitan Commissioner S V R SrinivasCertifications in placeEarlier the MMRDA on Thursday announced that the testing of trains signalling system civil works and track and speed trials had been completed by the commissioner of Metro rail safety CMRS and that the authority had received the final safety certificate which is a mandatory requirement for public use of a Metro rail systemAfter receiving technical approvals and certificate from Rail Designs and Standard Organisation RDSO for item dimensions braking traction and power supply system train sets track structure fastening system signalling and telecommunication and platform screen doors MMRDA has approached CMRS for the final safety inspection and granted mandatory safety certificates required for public carriageldquoMMRDA has received the safety certificate for the commercial operations of the Metro Line We are ready to provide worldclass service to Mumbaikars The chief minister and deputy chief minister inspected Gundavli Metro station on Thursday in view of the commissioning of Phase2rdquo said Metropolitan Commissioner S V R SrinivasThe Yellow Line 2A DN Nagar Andheri to Dahisar passes from Link Road and Red Line 7 Dahisar East to Andheri East passes from WesternExpress HighwayThe 35kilometrelong Mumbai Metro Lines 2A and 7 comprise 30 elevated stations of which the Phase 1 between Aarey and Dhanukarwadi was opened to the public in April last year on Gudi Padwa The stretch is currently drawing a daily ridership of 25000Ahead of its official inauguration next week Shinde confirmed that the prime minister would flag off trains on Yellow Metro Line 2A and Red Metro Line 7 and dedicate them to the nation22No of trains that will be operated on 2 lines